My invention relates to means to eject water, with entrained air, into a spa tank in the form of a moving water stream whipping back and forth in a single plane, particularly in a vertical plane, so that occupants can subject their bodies to the massaging action of a moving pressurized stream.
The present invention concerns improvements over my prior inventions disclosed in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 06/243,724, filed 3/16/81, and Ser. No. 06/777,435, filed 9/18/85 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,340, issued 6/18/85.
More specifically, my present invention concerns means to achieve more effective or consistent whipping action. Although my concept of vertically reciprocating a jet of water in a spa through inherent whipping action of a flexible water ejecting tube is preferable to motorizing the reciprocation of a water stream, I have discovered that the whipping action is influenced by a number of variables. If whipping forces are not sufficient, the flexible tube will stall in position and produce a stationary water jet. One variable influencing whipping action is, of course, the type of material, i.e., the plastic or rubber material selected. An aspect I was surprised to discover was that even if the material selected is sophisticated or exotic and high priced, there can be enough variation in production of the material so that flexibility varies sufficiently from one batch to another to materially affect whipping operation. The apparatus needs to be adjustable to compensate for the difference in flexibility of the nozzle. Another variable is water pressure. Certain mechanical structure varies action, i.e., location of abutments. Air supply is another variable, i.e., starving of supply of air will affect whipping action. It is an objective of my invention to achieve more effective or consistent whipping action through design or control of certain of the features or variables affecting whipping action of the flexible tube. A further objective is to direct whipping action of the water exhaust tube by design of the cross-section.
My invention will be best understood, together with additional advantages and objectives thereof, when read with reference to the drawings.